The Landfill
by ARMV7
Summary: Fresh out of College, Ruby has been dating Cinder for a while now. But what happens when they get an apartment together? With Neo and Yang living just upstairs? Hilarity and insanity within situations the four of them will never forget. [Finally a place for all my Trashy ideas!]
1. Allergies

_**A/N **_**That's right, you read it. A collection centered around everyone's favorite Trash Pairings. So I decided to 'dump' [Ha] all of those ideas into this fictional Landfill loaded with Cinderruby and Banana Split! Other characters will show up occasionally. Expect 81.7% humor with the odd 'feels' here and there. **

**This is a Normal Life/Future AU by the by. You'll see. Enjoy! **

Allergies.

Fresh out of College and ready to start her school-free life, Almost-twenty-year-old Ruby Rose happily strode down the hallway of her apartment building. She'd been excited all week! It was her first week free from those boring exams and lectures, and the seemingly odd teachers.

Sort of.

By all technicalities, she _is _done school. For now. Her two year program at Sanctum community College -Advanced Digital Arts- was completed early -with the current month being November. But the occupational goal she shot for still required two more years of schooling. To which right now was completely out of her affordability range.

The plan was simple; take a year off of school to work and save money -then go back again. Currently she held a job at a clothing boutique in one of the larger malls in Vale. Ironically, her fashion sense was about as good as a dog's. The girl was allowed to pick things she wanted to wear for free, but would always mismatch items into some weird looking fabric collage.

Lucky for her, there was a certain _someone _who knew tenfold more in that sector than she did.

But the pay was good enough, so she couldn't complain. So long as she had... _her _around; everything was a-okay.

The door to her home was close now. Ruby had recently signed a lease on a small two bedroom apartment during her last year of school. It wasn't the nicest place, and not the safest either, but it was home.

The building in question starkly contrasted the scarlet girls current mood. A medium sized high rise resting on the edge of Vale's skyscraper dominated downtown. The marooned brick building was located in the eastern end, where the crime rate was slightly higher and the people a little stranger.

She was closer now. The room sat at the end of the hallway on the seventh floor. Apartment 226 to be precise. Digging into the pocket of the jeans that really weren't hers, Ruby produced her keys and selected the proper one for the door.

She tightly clamped the small metal object between her fingers with excited fervor. Ruby quickly slotted the key into the socket and twisted like it was her last. At this point one would ask; why's Ruby so excited? Well as the crimsonette pushed the door open; she was greeted with the familiar -pleasurable sense of-

"There's my Red~" An alluring tone drawled.

"H-Hey Cinder." Ruby stuttered. Nearly two years into dating the woman and she _still _could maintain composure. But when it came to someone of Cinder's physique; composure be damned. Cinder, just three years older than Ruby, carries herself with the zenith of confidence. She doesn't slip, falter, or anything.

It's what 'attracted' Ruby to her in the first place. Or rather, substitute attracted for hypnotized, and you'll have a better understanding of how the two met.

Which actually wasn't that big of a story. Ruby's older sister Yang would often take her out to the various bars and clubs that dotted the downtown sector. Even against the fact that Ruby was underage. (Yang has 'connections') But it was one club in particular where Ruby became 'hypnotized' by a certain bartender with midnight black hair, and eyes of molten steel.

Now -two years later- they share a loving and withstanding relationship. Cinder was actually the co-signer of the lease as the two moved in together not long ago. The apartment wasn't the biggest thing ever, but it perfectly suited the duo.

Currently, Ruby was eyeing Cinder up and down like she routinely does. The dark haired beauty was clad in black short-shorts, a maroon long sleeve blouse with one of the sleeves torn off, and silver trimmed bracelets and necklaces. Her outfit completely opposite to the weather outside.

"Ruby~" Cinder called. The crimsonette continued to stand there. "Ruby." She called again, this time a little more seriously. The girl in question continued to gawk, not even acknowledging Cinder's words. "Ruby!" The woman shouted. This time it brought Ruby back from her daydreams, the girl shook her head a few times before addressing Cinder properly. "Sorry, kinda zoned out there, hehe."

"As long as you're zoning out over me-" She swayed over to Ruby, tipping the girls chin up with a gentle touch. "-I'm perfectly fine with it." She finished her sentence with a devious smirk. The woman paced back a few steps and waited for a response...

Knowing what was coming.

Ruby eyed her up and down again, this time with those big, shimmery puppy eyes Cinder had come to adore. And when Ruby gave that look -it only meant one thing;

Cinder stuck out her arms. "Come here." She mused.

In an instant, Ruby jumped perfectly in line with Cinder's strong arms, the woman unflinching the whole time. Ruby intertwined her fingers behind Cinder's neck, looking up and locking eyes with her; the woman tried not to giggle. "And you wonder why I call you puppy sometimes."

"Just shut-up and kiss me." Ruby paused. "Please."

"Oh? Is someone needy?"

"Pwetty pwease?"

If there was one thing Cinder wasn't immune to; it was the 'puppy dog Ruby eyes'

"Hm." Cinder _happily _obliged. She brought the scarlet girls head up and her own down. They both locked lips, each one reveling in the others gossamer touch. Just like always; the kiss went from soft and slow, to hungry and aggressive. Both tongues fighting for dominance in a heated fervor. It was a game they liked to play, and one Cinder would _always _win. The elder girl always had a multitude of ways to win said game, usually involving kissing Ruby until she couldn't breathe.

This time however, their lips parted on neutral ground. As their eyes bore into eachother, Cinder ran her hand through Ruby's short scarlet locks, "Puppy." She teased.

Ruby frowned and wriggled her way out of Cinder's arms, the older woman felt a little saddened as her girlfriend stepped away. "You know we could just... not cuddle tonight."

Cinder froze. She _loved _cuddling, it was her favorite thing to do! No! "Fine, I won't call you puppy anymore."

That was a lie.

The redhead was content on saying nothing. Instead she began to cackle to herself, much to Cinder's ire.

_'So that's how she wants to play...'_

Externally frowning but internally smirking, Cinder hastily brushed past Ruby; making sure there was shoulder-to-shoulder contact.

The cackling came to an instantaneous halt.

"Wait!" Ruby called out. The woman ignored her and continued her stride to the door. Cinder resisted the urge to smile as Ruby blatantly played into Cinder's favor. When Ruby's sweet scent was close behind her, Cinder swiftly turned around and flashed Ruby an unsettling -almost maniacal- grin.

"I'm- whoa!" Ruby found herself instantly pinned to the wall by her provocative girlfriend. The woman's hands ran up and down her sides as she choose Ruby's neck as her target zone.

"You're so gullible."

As soon as those words parted her lips, Cinder pulled back and smiled in triumph. "We'll finish that later."

Ruby fixed her shirt and followed Cinder into the small kitchen located on the right side of the open concept room. "Why? We're uh... alone, and its... erm." She trailed off into a stuttering mess. Why was it so hard to speak!

"Ruby~ if you want that you'll at _least _have to buy me dinner first." She dug into her shorts pocket and started fiddling with her phone.

"What re you doing?" Ruby inquired.

"_I'm _ordering us takeout, and _you're _going to pick it up." Cinder's used pointing gestures to emphasize her words.

"Fine..." Ruby muttered. She purposely quelled her enthusiasm; even though deep down her day had gone from good to great to fan-freaking-tastic. "Where' are you ordering from?"

"The place we went to last week, you know, the one we almost go kicked out of?"

Ruby's face flushed red. "Oh, heh, that one."

She vividly remembered what had... transpired the previous week at said restaurant. How Cinder purposely sat beside her instead of across from her, and how they almost... 'expressed' themselves in the booth.

Oh the memories.

Shaking that thought off, Ruby paced over to the door of the apartment and slipped her runners on. Cinder gave her a quick peck on the cheek and in an instant she was gone.

Shutting the door behind her, Ruby quickly made her way to the elevator and out to the parking garage that rested underneath the building. The scarlet girl rode the elevator down to the garage, and stepped out into the cooler -more arid- space.

Now free from anyone seeing Ruby leaped into the air and let out the seal loud enough to resonate off the concrete walls. "Yes!" She shouted. This was so great! The reason? Usually dinner with Cinder would always turn into cuddles on the couch while they watched TV shows with terrible acting. Then said cuddling would usually dissolve into things Ruby was too embarrassed to say.

To put it short, she'd be... busy, for the better part of the evening.

Finding her small red coupé exactly where she parked it, Ruby hit the unlock button on her keys and climbed inside. Upon seeing the change piled up in the cupholder, a rather important though crossed her mind;

_'How am I paying for this?'_

"Aw man..." Ruby sighed as she realized her wallet was back in the apartment. With a tired sigh she extend the vehicle, locked it back up (can never be too safe), and made the journey backwards.

As she strolled along the cold concrete of the garage, a light tip-tapping sounded from behind her. The girl brushed the sound off as just some random noise, and continued to walk. Still, the sound persisted and began to get on her nerves.

With a annoyed groan, Ruby spun on her heels in an attempt to pinpoint the source of the sound. Silver eyes darted around the garage -finding absolutely noth-

_Woof Woof! Arf!_

The sound startled her a bit. Looking down, Ruby came face to face with-

"A dog?" She mused. The small -what she'd identified as a Corgi- stared up at her with beady, _adorable _eyes and let out another bark. "Aww, are you lost?"

The small dog barked again, his tail wagging in what Ruby interpreted as, happiness?

"What? You're glad you're lost?"

He barked even louder and did a quick circle before sitting down. Ruby looked back at him grinning widely. Sure she had no idea whose dog this was, or if the owners were nearby, but he's so cute! She always loved dogs, they brought back good childhood memories. Ruby remembered the time she asked Cinder if she could bring a dog home; but the woman shot the idea down as fast as it was proposed.

She'd never seen Cinder act so... defensive before.

Ruby did a quick check under his neck to see if he had tags, and to her growing excitement; there wasn't any.

Not giving it anymore thought Ruby stood up, "C'mon." She gestured. The Corgi did another quick circle around her feet and barked.

_'There's no way Cinder can say no if I just bring him in, right?'_

_**######**_

Ruby hummed happily as her new feline friend followed her all the way back to the apartment. She still didn't have a name for him, but that's thinking too far ahead. For now, she just hopes Cinder will be okay with it.

Much like before, Ruby inserted her keys and felt dumb as to how she remembered her keys but not her wallet.

Just before opening the door, Ruby got down on one knee and addressed the small black and white Corgi. "Just wait here." She whispered. The lick to her face was incentive enough that the message was relayed.

The crimsonette quietly pushed the door open, and meekly smiled to the Cinder standing in the middle of the room holding her wallet.

"We're you forgetting something~?" She purred. It was one of those indecipherable purrs, giving Ruby the feeling that Cinder was talking about herself, and _not _the wallet.

"Whoops, s-silly me." She never had an excuse because this happens on a regular basis.

Cinder eyed the girl quizzically. "You going to come over here, or do I have to come get you?"

"Well... uh, actually, I have someone f-for you to meet." She meekly replied.

"Really, who's the 'someone'?"

Instead of words, Ruby let out a light whistle, Cinder raised an eyebrow at the weird gesture; but continued to watch the door.

From the bottom right of the frame came a small -black and white- ...dog.

"What is that." Cinder pointed and backed up a little.

Ruby winced a little at the vehemence in Cinder's words. "I found him down in the parking garage, I think he's a stray or something." Ruby knelt down and softly patted his head.

"Well go put him back." Cinder quipped.

"What's wrong? Don't you like dogs?"

"You mean mongrels? No."

"Oh come on, look at his face~." Ruby spoke in a cutesy voice. The girl picked the dog up and brought him right over to Cinder, directly in the taller woman's face. "Ruby, stop."

"Just pet him, C'mon."

Cinder backed up even further, almost tripping over the couch as she did so. "R-Ruby... I, will n-ah, h-have, ahh-" She choked out.

"Are you okay?"

"Ah-choo!" Cinder sneezed.

_'Oh my god...'_

Ruby dropped the dog at what had just graced her ears. Cinder's sneeze was the girliest, cutest, and most high-pitched one she has ever heard. It made sense now, every time Cinder went to sneeze, she'd practically cover her whole face and cancel out any noise. But with her arms trying to push Ruby back; there was nothing stopping it.

"Oh my god..." Ruby muttered. She began to cackle again, except this time her small snorts and laughs quickly broke out into full fledged hilarity-fueled howls.

"It's not- Ah-choo! -funny!"

Ruby fell to the carpet, laughing hard enough to stifle her breathing. If that wasn't the most adorable thing she's ever heard...

"Ah-choo! I'm, ahh- allergic to dogs..." Her tone was audibly different now, muffled by her stuffy senses.

"Hahaha, oh- I'm ha sorry j-just..." Ruby gripped the back of the sofa to pull herself back up. "Y-You're allergic to dogs?" She sputtered, the dog in question was off in the corner chasing his tail.

"Gah, yes I..." Oh no. "Ah-choo!"

"C-Cinder there's nothing to be embarrassed about, I think it's cute." Ruby tried to reassure the woman. Cinder eyed the grill and blushed a deep red, it wasn't her fault her sneezes were like that!

"We- ah, can't keep him."

She was right. It wasn't fair to Cinder to keep him around. Even if she wanted a dog _so _badly. "Fine." Ruby grabbed a box of nearby tissues and handed them to Cinder. "What re we gonna do with him?"

"Don't ask me." Cinder retreated to the far side of the room.

"Oh! I know, we can give him to Yang and Neo." Ruby stated.

"You sure? Yang will just- ah, take a stray animal in?"

"Well when we were kids she brought a different animal home every month; this guy shouldn't be a problem." Ruby walled over to the dog and pet him gently. "But before he goes..."

"What?"

"Do it again."

"Ruby I'm no-ahh- Ah-choo!"

"Got it!" Ruby proclaimed. She produced her phone from behind her back and ended what Cinder saw as a recording.

"Of all things..." Cinder sighed.

_**A/N **_**Haah. Feel free to drop an idea for these 4 if you have one. And yeah I know this was a little OOC. This is just a fun thing I'm doing. Nothing serious. Updates will be sporadic; but not too far apart. **

**Neo and Yang up next!**


	2. Decorators

_**A/N **_**And we're back. This was supposed to be out on Monday but... ah, I don't want to get into it. I just hate this time of year (Thanksgiving to New Years) with every fiber of my being. That and I just killed one of my fics. But whatever, this fic raises my spirit a bit so... Read on and enjoy~**

**This got a lot of follows pretty quickly. So thanks guys, it means a ton. **

Decorators

After a solid hour of on-her-knees begging; Ruby was barely successful in her quest to convince Cinder to let the dog -now named Zwei- stay for the night. Cinder had asked for _a lot_. The majority of it revolving around the bedroom. (And the deletion of certain recordings)

So after dinner, a movie, and a night of intense cuddling; Ruby awoke the next morning completely refreshed and... a little sad.

After quietly slipping out of bed (dressed of course) and leaving her slumbering girlfriend behind, Ruby tip-toed to the smaller of the two bedrooms and slipped inside. To keep Cinder's adorable allergy at bay, she had put the small dog in the spare bedroom for the night.

"Hey..." She whispered to him. The small bundle of fur jumped down from the guest bed and right to her legs. The crimsonette knelt down and rubbed him between the ears. As she looked into his beady eyes, an idea popped in her mind...

Just because he has to go today, doesn't mean she can't have a little fun in the meantime.

Ruby stepped back towards the closed door. And promptly opened it.

"Go, go, go." She gestured for Zwei to run into the short hallway and towards their room. With a bark of glee, Zwei took of down the hall and-

"Agh! Not you again!"

Ruby cackled as she heard Zwei leap onto the bed. The muffled 'thud' that followed made it impossibly clear that Cinder had fallen out of said bed. "Red!"

She sauntered back in it their shared bedroom and grinned at the sight of Zwei barking at Cinder while she huddled on the floor; using the bedsheets to retain any and all decency.

"And that's for all the 'puppy' jokes." She tutted before walking off.

"Wait. You're just going to leave me here? With this- this thing?"

Wait for it...

"Ah-choo!"

There it is.

_**######**_

"Aw, man..." Ruby winced as the door to the apartment slammed in her face. After getting one last kick in; Cinder cut Zwei's stay in the apartment short and told Ruby to take him upstairs already!

Sighing in defeat, the girl made her way down the hall and towards the stairs. She wrapped the leash tighter around her fist and continued to walk Zwei. Ruby felt a little strange as to why Cinder had a dog leash and a choker at the ready, but it was probably best not to ask those questions right now...

Shrugging that thought off, Ruby, along with Zwei, reached the top of their short stair climb and turned to face the first door on their left.

The abode of Yang and Neo.

The two had met during senior year at Signal High, all throughout High school; guys _and _girls swooned over Yang for her good looks. But the blonde would turn every request, plead, or beg down. You could say she had grown accustomed to it. Then Neo came along, one of the few who didn't bother with swooning, and whether it was luck or pure interest; Yang had pursued Neo over the select few who didn't, and tried everything in the book to try and get her attention.

Of course Neo had liked Yang from the start, but loved playing hard to get.

After numerous gimmicks and asks, Neo finally said a word to the blonde, and that was enough to get them to where they are today.

The scarlet girl heaved a sigh and gingerly knocked on the door. Zwei running around in circles as she waited.

Ruby perked up a little as the muffled pitter-patter of footsteps sounded from beyond the door. The sound of the deadbolt unlocking followed by a couple of other clicks made Ruby raise an eyebrow before the door suddenly opened.

The figure swung the door open and stood in the doorway. "Oh, Ruby, what's up?"

"Can I come in Neo?"

"Sure!" The girl stepped out of the way and gestured for Ruby to enter. As Ruby strolled in with Zwei she took a quick glance at Neo. Her pink and auburn hair was tied back as per usual, and she was dressed in an ensemble consisting of white jeans, a black tank-top and a pink bolero.

The apartment layout was identical to her own, just with the kitchen and living room reversed.

"What's with the dog?" Neo pointed out. At the gesture; Zwei began to lick Neo's feet and ankles eliciting a squealish laugh from the girl.

"Well..." Ruby paused to let Zwei off his, or rather, Cinder's leash. "Can he stay with y- wait where's Yang?" She inquired, glancing around the room.

"She went out for a bit, something about 'Getting into the Christmas spirit'? I don't know." Neo shrugged.

"But December just started today." Ruby tutted.

"It's Yang remember?" She giggled. "So who's this cutie?" The multi-colored girl grinned.

"I found him out in the parking garage yesterday, his name's Zwei."

"Zwei?"

"Yeah, Yang and I had a dog just like him when we were kids so- I gave him the same name." Ruby explained. "I was wondering..."

"Hm?" Neo tilted her head in interest.

"There was some, uh, issues with him and Cinder... so can he stay here?" Ruby tried to keep her sentence in a regular tone. Deep down, the girl was practically begging for Neo to say yes, as there was no way in hell she let the little dog back into the garage. She knew if it were Yang she was asking and NOT Neo; her blonde sister would say yes without question.

"Why not!" Neo squeed, "Yang won't mind."

"Oh thank god..." Ruby sighed in relief, glad she could still see him.

"So, why didn't Cinder want him around anyway?" Neo questioned, she walked over to the small black fridge and tossed a Coke to Ruby.

She stifled a laugh, "Well I could show you..." Cinder may have forced her to delete the recording of her embarrassing attribute, but Ruby's phone automatically backed-up any and all files in the cloud. Making sure there was always duplicates.

_'Thank, you, Google' _She silently praised. "Okay, you gotta listen to this." She pulled her phone from the depths of her jeans and opened the backup file. Neo assumed a position next to Ruby as they listened.

_"Do it again." _

_"Ruby I'm no-ahh- Ah-choo!" _

_"Got it!"_

Neo burst into a fit of laughter. "Pfft, is t-that-"

"Yep."

"Ahahahaha! Play it again." Neo almost demanded. Ruby played it again, and this time Neo slumped backwards onto the couch and continued to laugh. "She- ha, finally does something adorable."

Ruby crossed her arms, peeved at how everyone thinks Cinder can't be adorable. "She can be when she wants to." Ruby huffed, standing up for Cinder.

"Oh yeah?"

Ruby blushed and continued to look away. Before she could fire back; a loud thud came from the doorway. "I'm back!" A familiar chipper voice shouted out. Both Neo and Ruby looked to the source, and smiled at the boisterous blonde entering the room, dragging an ominous box behind her.

"There's my crazy." Neo chimed.

"Hey sis." Ruby waved, shoving her phone back in her pocket.

"Rubes!" Yang made haste towards her younger sister and enveloped her in a hug.

"...Ahem."

Yang set Ruby down at the sound of her girlfriend clearing her throat. "Sorry babe." The blonde sheepishly replied. Yang swayed over to Neo and enveloped the significantly shorter girl in a tight-knit kiss. The simple touch escalated quickly as tall and short assaulted eachother's lips, hands running up and down their backs. Ruby's cheeks flushed red as Neo shoved Yang down onto the couch -a little surprised that Yang let Neo do such a thing.

"Uhm."

"Mhmm, ah, sorry Rubes." Yang gasped from her downed position, pushing Neo off of her, she stood back up.

"Oh come on!" Neo slumped into the couch . "Every time she's here..." She whined.

"There's plenty enough to go around, guys." She shot Ruby a sly wink, leaped up from the couch, and wrapped her sister in a tight hug. "Grah, Yang! St - Stop it!" Ruby said from somewhere deep in the blonde's shoulder.

"Pa-lease, don't give us that Ruby." Neo smirked. "You live below us; with the _most _provocative person in the whole city." Her grin grew devilish. "Don't think we don't know what goes on down there."

"Damn." Yang said in awe. Ruby simply crossed her arms and looked away -totally not denying the truth.

"So what's in the box hotshot?" Neo eyed the tall box.

"Check this out." Yang gestured to the tall box behind her. "Can anybody guess what this is?" the blonde swung the box around and placed it in the center of the living room. She tossed off her leather jacket and proudly stood by said box.

"A...coatrack?" Ruby guessed.

"I'm just wait for you to-"

"A Christmas Tree!" The blonde cheered, cutting Neo off.

"No way!" Ruby squealed. She marveled as Yang opened the top and pulled the three pieces out one by one.

"So that's what you meant by getting into the 'Christmas Spirit'." Neo mused. She grinned too. "God, Christmas at my house when I was a kid was ridiculous."

"Same here!" The red and yellow girls said in unison.

"But isn't it early?"

"Not for us." Ruby spoke matter-of-factly. "Christmas at our house was the biggest thing of the year. We'd always start right after Halloween." She continued. All the while helping Yang assemble the artificial pine. In literally a matter of seconds the three sections were placed into one another and each branch was unfurled. The three of them, along with Zwei, stood back and eyed the 7 foot tall object.

"You got decorations?" Neo questioned, watching as Zwei took off to the back rooms.

"Sure do!" Yang went back to the same box and pulled out another; smaller box. She ripped it open, revealing all kinds of ornaments in a gold and silver theme. She set the box on the couch's armrest and handed a few ornaments to both Ruby and Neo.

"Just... go nuts!" Yang proclaimed.

And go nuts they did. With their combined effort; the tree was clad in numerous lights and ornaments within a matter of minutes. Although it didn't look even, or planned, they were proud of their work.

"Alright, one, last, thing." Yang turned back to the box once more, this time, she produced a snowflake resting atop a narrow point. "Neo, you wanna do the honors?" Yang asked, handing the topper to her.

Neo tilted her head and nodded. She grabbed the object, turned to the _tall_ tree and-

"Pfftt, oh my god! I can't, hahaha, I ha..." Yang broke off into a fit of laughter.

Neo was mid-reach when she realized she'd fallen for Yang's joke. "Very funny." She blanched. Her face twisted into a glare as Yang continued to laugh. "Hey! It's not my fault I'm so short. A-And why do they make trees so tall!?"

"You're so adorable when your mad." Yang cackled.

Before Neo could fire back, the door suddenly opened. The three girls all swiveled around and bore into the door as it swung open.

"Ruby, what's taking so...long..." A familiar velvety tone spoke.

Cinder eyed the mess in the center of the living room. Pieces of several boxes littered the floor, along with a few broken Christmas ornaments and Styrofoam pieces. Her amber eyes traced upwards -towards the oddest looking tree she'd ever seen.

"Hey Cinder." Ruby sheepishly waved.

"Hey Long Legs!" Yang waved, albeit with much more cheer.

"Cin." Neo nodded.

"What're you fools doing?" Cinder questioned still awed by the odd sight.

"We're uh, decorating a Christmas tree?" Ruby replied. Seeing an opportunity, Ruby snatched the tree topper from Neo's hand and tossed it to Cinder -the tallest of the four.

"You want me to..."

The latter three nodded.

Cinder shrugged. She was never a big fan of Christmas, and not once in her twenty three years on Remnant had she decorated a tree but;

There's a first for everything.

Ruby watched as Cinder sashayed over to the tree, slowly reached up, and placed the object perfectly on top.

Cinder felt a little odd. "That was anticlimactic..."

The four of them eyed each other, "Well we're all here. Now what?" Neo spoke up.

"I have an idea..." Yang almost whispered. "Everyone is all in for a real... tree-t!"

"Oh no..."

_**A/N **_**Ironically enough, I don't actually celebrate 'Christmas'... kinda... Idk, this was fun and there'll most likely be an actual Christmas-y chapter later on. **


	3. Game Night

_**A/N **_**Just a quick note. If you guys have any ideas for this story; go ahead and leave them. There's a 95% chance they'll get written in. Thanks for the follows and favorites too, keep being awesome!**

**~This one's for Arieko. Happy *cough* late birthday old man. Hah, I kid? ;D~**

**Enjoy!**

Game Night

"Whoa whoa whoa, wait, you want to do what?" Cinder exclaimed, raising her hands in confusion. She was perturbed by what a certain insane Blonde had said. After their 'tree raising' as Ruby had dubbed it. The four of them currently remained in Yang and Neo's apartment to find something to do. Each of them bouncing ideas off one another.

"We play twister." Yang repeated. Slumping back in her foldout poker chair.

"No, the part before that." The eldest of the four said.

"It's game night...?" Yang asked, not entirely sure what Cinder was getting at.

"Ugh, no no, the part before the last, but after the first." She explained. Yang raised an eyebrow in annoyance and glanced at Cinder's inquiring expression, followed by Ruby's embarrassed one. "We play twister."

"Just repeat the whole sentence." Neo almost whined, wanting to get on with it.

"It's game night, so I thought we could play strip twister." The blonde spoke, her expression remaining completey unfazed.

"D-Don't you mean Strip Poker?" Ruby cautiously asked.

Yang smiled and shook her head. "No, 'Strip twister'. I played it at the first college party I went to." She spoke like It was an achievement. She, along with Neo, are currently in their third college year, and enjoying every bit of it together.

"Hm." Cinder went off in thought. "Interesting... rules?"

Ruby started to nervously fidget, shuffling left to right on the couch. If the game entitled what she assumed it does; then might as well kiss the evening goodbye. The crimsonette grabbed Cinder's arm and gave it a good shake, trying to get the woman's attention.

"What is it?" She shifted her attention to Ruby.

"I thought you were doing the thing tonight?"

Cinder backpedaled, "I told you to keep quiet about that." She hissed.

"But..." Ruby groaned. "What about-"

"What, 'Thing' is is this?" Neo asked, a little _too _suggestively. Both her and Yang were leaning forward in their chairs, listening intently. Cinder's gaze went from them to Ruby, her eyes narrowing at the girl, clearly conveying the message of: 'Don't you dare'. "I... the thing is-" Ruby trailed off, her eyes bouncing between Cinder's glare, to Yang and Neo's invoking stares.

Ruby started to falter under the pressure. Cinder didn't want them to know, but she would _never _lie to Yang.

"C'mon sis, say it and we can pl-"

"Cinderlikestobakeforme!" Ruby blurted out so fast it sounded like gibberish. You'd think that Cinder would be the one to warp Ruby's personality, which in some areas was in fact the case. But more 'damage' was done to Cinder. There's the odd time when Cinder would react to things with childlike glee, or do stupid outrageous things alongside Ruby. It was... adorable, in the most worrisome of ways.

"B-Bake?" Yang stammered. She reeled back in her chair, completely overtaken with laughter. Neo did much of the same, looking at Cinder's blushing face each time she tried to stop; only forced her to start laughing again.

The ebony-haired girleyed Ruby, the crimsonette giving her a sheepish grin. "Your... baking is... good." She laughed nervously. Also, truth. To keep things short, Cinder likes to put a lot of... love into making things for Ruby.

Literally.

"So are we going to play this now?" Cinder asked, desperately wanting to change subjects.

"You bet'cha, chef!" Yang finished with a cackle. "The rules are simple." Neo cut in, she knows Yang and Cinder don't get along well sometimes, and the last thing they needed was an all-out cat-fight in the living room. "You go one-on-one, loser of each round loses a piece of clothing. Person with the most clothing at the end of five rounds wins." The white and pink themed girl explained.

"I don't know..." Ruby began fidgeting again.

"I'm in." Cinder directed a competitive gaze towards Yang.

"Then it's settled!" Yang clapped her hands together. "Neo, you grab the game. Ruby, help me move the couch. Cinder, push the table over there." Yang practically commanded. The three girls followed their orders, Yang and Ruby lifted the couch back a good meter, Cinder skidded the coffee table across to the right side of the couch, and Neo dug the game from their room downstairs.

As the multi-colored girl returned; game in hand. Ruby asked a rather important question, "Why do you guys have... actually you know what? I don't wanna know." The girl looked away. "Still don't know why I'm doing this..." she mumbled to herself.

Neo handed the game mat to Yang who dutifully laid it out on the carpet. She set the spinner to the side, and addressed them, "So, who's up first?" She inquired. Yang grinned and snatched the spinner out of her grasp. "You are." She said with a wink. She turned around and sat back down on her foldout chair. "You and Cinder, go." She gestured. Neo looked at her in confusion until she picked up on Yang's sly grin -getting the message instantly. Yang knows how... nimble Neo can be. And there's _no way _Cinder -the tallest of the four- could beat her.

As Neo and Cinder stood next to each other, Yang was shocked at the height difference. Sure Neo was shorter than most girls, but Yang had gotten used to that by now. But Cinder stood ,at the very least, over a foot taller than Neo.

_"This is gonna be interesting." _Yang mulled. "Alright, you guys ready?" She proclaimed. Tall and short nodded their heads, waiting for Yang to start the game. The blonde nodded enthusiastically, and gave the spinner a good whack. She eyed it intently, grinning at what it landed on.

"Alright Cinder; both feet on green, one hand on yellow." The blonde issued.

Cinder, still having no clue why she was doing this, got down on her knees, put both feet on green and stretched out. Leaving one arm free, and the other on yellow. It looked like she was doing a one handed push-up on the far end of the mat.

"Hm." Yang tutted. "Okay Neo..." she gave the spinner another hit. "Left foot on blue, right foot on red, and both hands on yellow." The move was much more difficult than Cinder's, but she had no doubt in her shorter girlfriend.

Neo, shrugged and followed the orders to a T. She placed her hands and feet on the correct spots, and formed an arched bridge over Cinder.

Ruby gasped a little at the tight spot Cinder now found herself in. Trapped, under the little space Neo provided her. Still, she would not lose faith.

"Yes!" Yang cheered at Neo's move. She slapped the spinner again, almost laughing at what Cinder was forced to do now. "Pfft, okay. Cinder one foot on red, and the other on yellow."

"What the..." Cinder groaned. Seeing no other possible way, she turned herself over, bent her legs forward and placed them on the correct spots. She now looked like she was doing some kind of awkward upside-down, one-handed push up.

Not saying word, Yang spun the spinner again, and lipped the words; 'End it' to Neo. "Alright babe; right hand on yellow, leave everything else." Neo got Yang's point. She placed her hand over top of Cinder's on yellow, shifting a little in order to do so. The shift pushed Cinder's free hand down a little, making the woman's balance falter a little. Cinder felt her body tip to the side a little, so she attempted to straighten out by moving her hand -only to find it trapped under Neo's. The raven-haired beauty, tipped to the side and fell on the mat. "Gah, Stupid game..." She whispered.

"We have a winner!" Yang exclaimed from her chair. Neo unfurled her body and stood up triumphantly.

"Alright Cinder, you know the rules..." Neo smirked. Cinder stood up, not in the least bit embarrassed, (but still perturbed as to why she was playing this game) the woman peeled her silk and fleece maroon sweater off and tossed it at Ruby. The crimsonette's face went warm at the black lingerie that now graced her eyes. A wolf call from Yang could be heard in the background.

"Uh, w-who's next?" Ruby sputtered, totally not ogling Cinder. Nope.

"You and me sis!" Yang tossed the spinner to Neo who, was joined by Cinder on the couch. The blonde pulled her sister onto the mat and awaited her first move. Neo gave the spinner an energetic hit. "Alright hotshot, left hand on red, right on green, and one foot on yellow." Neo called out.

"Piece a' cake" Yang smirked. She followed the first move with ease, she placed everything in the right color, and even made it look like she was posing, totally keeping her cool.

"Perfect." Neo cocked her head to the side. "You wanna do the honors?" She handed the spinner to Cinder. The woman shrugged and gave it a whirl. She watched the plastic needle stopped, and called out the corresponding movements. "Both feet on green, both hands on blue."

"I got this." Ruby absent-mindlessly said. The move was easy, making a narrow plank shape next to Yang without even touching her.

Completely setting herself up for a lose.

Cinder eyed them intently before handing the spinner back to Neo. The shortest of the three, hummed before dishing out another spin. _"Perfect." _She thought as the needle came to a halt. "One and on blue, the other on red, and both feet on yellow."

The blonde nodded, or rather, grinned like a madwoman at the easy victory she was now presented with. She rolled backwards on top of Ruby and sprawled out like a sloth hanging from a tree, loosely placing her limbs on target.

Topless Cinder raised a hand. "Oh come on, that's not-"

"Ack! umpf." The sound of Ruby faltering to the mat under Yang cut her off. Cinder facepalmed. How could they be losing!

"Hah! Yes, one more for team 'Majestic'."

Neo stifled a laugh. "Majestic?"

"What?" Yang defended. "It's all I could think of. But... Ruby? Looks like you have to do what Cinder just did~" Yang said in a cheery tone. Reluctantly, like _really _reluctantly, Ruby did the same as Cinder. Removing her black v-neck with ease. Cinder gave an affirmative nod at the red lingerie she saw.

"So... who's next!?"

"Not me..." Ruby dishearteningly mumbled.

_2 hours later..._

Things had gone from bad to worse in just a few more rounds. Yang and Neo were completely destroying Cinder and Ruby. The yellow and pink team hadn't shed a single article of clothing yet. As for Cinder and Ruby? Well...

As the game went on, Cinder got more and more aggravated. So she proposed the idea of a 'sudden death match' her and Yang. If Yang wins: Cinder and Ruby have to walk back downstairs -the long way- in their current state of undress. If Cinder wins, she would be given permission to throw this stupid game off of the balcony.

It would seem like latter would lose today.

Currently, lingerie-clad Cinder was straight against Yang. The both of them parallel to each other. However their legs were entangled in a limb-pretzel.

Ruby had been cheering on Cinder the entire game, while Neo just sat back, already knowing who the Victor would be. See the thing is, is that Yang and Neo are _pros _at this game. Having played it multiple times on their own, because with only two people; creativity was key.

"Kay Cin, just left hand on blue, nothing else." The indecently dressed Ruby called to her.

Seeing it as an easy move, Cinder _tried _to move forward, but right as she shuffled a bit, Yang tightened her lock around Cinder's ankle, and effectively stopped her from moving. Cinder saw the blondes move and one-upped her, she refracted her arm an used her elbow to touch the point.

"Very... clever." Yang panted, from not breathing.

Ruby handed the spinner off to Neo. She gave it a lazy spin. "Right foot red." She instructed.

_"It's over now." _Yang internally cheered. She slid her right foot out from its entanglement, and criss-crossed over Cinder's rear, effectively putting more weight down on her. "Got it." Yang spoke, her tone sounding laid back like she'd already won.

The next move was given to Cinder, a flustered Ruby said to put left hand green. But as soon as she went to do so, the extra force Yang had on her, made all movements impossible due to her locked state.

But that doesn't mean she won't try.

With diligence, Cinder attempted to push Yang up and reach for the green, but the inevitable falter came, Cinder lost her balance, and hit the mat with the full force of Yang on top of her. "Damnit!" She whisper shrieked.

"Yeah!" Yang rolled off of Cinder, "We win! In your face Fall!" Yang attempted to do a victory jig, but was pushed to the side as Cinder and Ruby passed by. Cackling to themselves, Yang and Neo picked up the clothing articles and tossed them to the losers.

The day for Cinder couldn't have gone worse. Her baking secret got out, she played the silliest game in existence, and then lost to the silliest game in existence. All that was left to do know was take the indecent walk-of-shame back Downstairs.

Fun...

"You gotta hold up your end of the bargain." Neo, gave them that triumphant smirk again.

Ruby, clad in her rose-patterned lingerie, heaved a sigh and went for the door; Cinder following right behind. Ruby tried one last-ditch effort. She turned her head, brushed the crimson locks from her face, and gave Yang the most pleading, adorable look that face of hers could muster.

The blonde giggled, and still pushed them forward, "Bye you two, have a nice walk!" She and Neo waved, totally not sarcastically.

Cinder sighed too and followed Ruby out the door, into the decrepit hallway.

"Let's just get this over with..." Cinder sighed.

The dreadful walk Downstairs, was filled with wolf-calls, thumbs up, and even people hitting on them. It would seem the buildings Crazies came out during after hours.

Deep down though, Cinder digressed with herself.

_"It was kinda fun."_

**This originally was just a friendly game of twister, but... that was lame so I spiced it up... a lot. Lots of 'implications' in there, aha. But I need to be silly and crazy every once-in-a-while. :) Thanks for reading!**


	4. Unwrapped

_**A/N **_**Alright so this'll be the last personal chapter before I start mixing in ideas from you guys. I don't want to make this a request fic, because I'd like it to have good flow and not be a random mix of jumbled ideas. **

**This chapter is the lead up to an idea suggested by: **_**stetsonandhisnickers!**_** Just a Christmas themed thing that sets his idea up pretty well. So thanks, and enjoy! **

Unwrapped

"Red, surely this is some kind of joke."

"Oh C'mon! It's not a joke! It's cute. P-lease?" A merry crimsonette clapped her hands together, begging the woman before her to do something said woman wasn't to happy about. See, today wasn't actually Christmas, but Yang had rather forcefully insisted the four of them exchange gifts today to give the respective couples time to themselves on the real Christmas day. (Ruby actually agreed as she and Cinder already had... "plans")

And the millisecond Ruby heard about that arrangement; her Christmas spirit inched closer to the meltdown level.

The girl continued to plead at Cinder, still holding the object of the current stipulation up to the woman. "Try it on, we have to go soon."

Cinder crossed her arms and shook her head as negatory as possible. Cinder herself was still baffled as to how she got into this mess. After coming home from work extremely late, or rather _very _early this morning; Cinder's only goal was to crawl into bed with Ruby and sleep off her exhaustion till next Friday. But at roughly eight o'clock that morning, she was abruptly yanked out of bed and forced into today's trials.

Before her stood Ruby, holding the ugliest sweater that had ever graced her presence. It was a deep pine green with a white and red snowflake pattern littered all over it. Her crimson-haired girlfriend had been hard pressed all morning to get her to put it on.

But there was more! This part baffled Cinder the most, see it should be known that Cinder liked to go to sleep in a clothing-free state, and barely had time to put some pants on before Ruby began her Christmas enforcement. Even being topless in front of the girl didn't seem to phase her _at all. _

Cinder had deduced that Ruby must _really _love Christmas -even if it was almost two-weeks early.

"You're putting it on." Ruby continued to plead.

They'd been going at this for at least an hour now, Cinder wasn't impatient, but she really did want to find out what everyone had gotten her Christmas. Knowing she can't win a dispute with Ruby in such a spirited state; Cinder decided it was high time to put her cunning into play.

"Well~" Cinder bared her chest and closed the distance between her and Ruby, the crimsonette's grip on the sweater faltered a little as she closed in. Leaning forward the ebony-haired woman whispered something into Ruby's ear. Instantaneously the girl dropped the sweater, shuddered a little, and blushed a warm red matching her namesake. Cinder finished her whisper with a slight nibble on her ear, a now devious grin gracing at her features.

Ruby's clenched her mouth shut, and ceased her breathing. The words: "Bed. Cinnamon, and Cuddle" stood out the most of what Cinder had just whispered to her. "I..." she stumbled over her words.

"Do we have a deal?" Cinder asked oh-so innocently, her trademark malevolence still shining through.

"S-Sure." Ruby breathed out. She smiled a little and picked the sweater off of the bedroom floor and handed it to Cinder. The partly dressed Cinder did a seductive hair flip, before walking off into the bathroom to get ready for their trip to Neo and Yang's place. As the door closed, Ruby let out a sigh that could almost be interpreted as a moan before walking off into the kitchen in a flustered stupor.

"Cinder: one, Me: zero." She muttered discontentedly.

_**######**_

"You look nice..." Ruby tipped her head to Cinder, only earning her a scowl in response.

"The sweater was one thing, but you're pushing your luck with this hat." Cinder glanced upwards, blowing at the annoying fluff ball at the tip of a bright red Santa hat Ruby just _had _to make her wear too. Ruby was also dressed in a similar fashion, clad a red sweater with a white zigzag pattern and her usual black skinny jeans.

After getting ready; the both of them grabbed the gifts they bought for Yang and Neo and headed upstairs. The trip up wasn't quiet however. Cinder continually uttered threats to Ruby about how: "If anybody sees me in this thing I'll-" Ruby had winced at some of the things the peeved woman had said.

All in all Ruby fought them off, and the two of them now stood before Yang and Neo's door. Questioningly, Ruby looked up at Cinder, "So what'd you get them?" The girl asked, eyeing the two medium-sized boxes tucked under Cinder's arm.

"You'll just have to wait and see." She smirked.

Ruby shrank a little, but decided not to prod on. She handed Cinder her own poorly wrapped gifts, and with her hands free; gave the door a few quick knocks.

The answer was almost immediate as it took only a second before a familiar blonde opened the door.

And immediately burst into a fit of laughter.

In all honesty she didn't want to laugh at Ruby, them being sisters Yang knew how much the crimsonette liked this time of year. More so she was laughing at the hat and sweater toting ebony-haired woman before her.

"Aha, oh when did- pfft, Santa's elves get so old? Hahaha." The blonde pointed at Cinder and bowed forward, clutching her stomach in a fit of hilarity. The woman glared at the _normally dressed _blonde, feeling as if things were a tad bit unfair. Her focus shifted however, when she heard Ruby laughing too!

The crimsonette could feel Cinder eyes boring into the side of her head, and decided to go stoic and avoid looking at her.

Cinder brushed passed the blonde and tossed her gifts onto the living room table then turned and glared at the yellow and red pair, "Why am I always the butt of all jokes around here? Seriously?" She scoffed.

Ruby dogtrotted up to the miffed Cinder and gave her a quick peck on the cheek, "Because we love you." She grinned.

"Hey who's we?" Yang shouted in the background.

"Alright guys, let's just start now. Wait a minute... where's Neo?" Ruby questioned, glancing around for the short girl.

"Right here!"

The three of them turned to the source of the shrill voice. There stood the shortest of the four dressed in an off-the-shoulder pink top, and casual pants. In her right hand was her phone, aimed directly at Cinder. "Smile!" She cackled before snapping the photo. The flash dazed the woman for a second before realizing what Neo had just done.

"Ugh..." she sighed, "You know what? I... don't care anymore."

"Alright, let's get this underway shall we?" Yang clapped her hands together and sat down in her chair. Neo sat next to Yang on the armrest, whilst Cinder and Ruby took to the couch. Ruby grabbed her gifts for Yang and Neo then stood up, "I guess I'll go first." She tossed a cube shaped box to Yang. "Merry, uh, early Christmas?"

Yang held off on her reply. Sure she didn't know what it was, but Ruby was always pretty good when it came to knowing what you wanted. The blonde tore the silvery wrapping paper off and took in her gift. Inside the cube shaped box was brand new motorcycle helmet. A sporty looking one akin to something the professionals would use, with a yellow paint job and a deep black visor. "Awww, thanks sis!" The blonde cheered.

"Actually Neo helped me with that one, said you wouldn't shut up about it." Ruby giggled. "Speaking of Neo..." she tossed a small envelope to the multi-colored girl. "You'll like that one." She smiled.

Neo felt a little underwhelmed. A tiny envelope wasn't what she was expecting, but it's the thought that counts right? Using her manicured nails to slice it open, she dug out its contents and began grinning like a madwoman. "Is this for real?" She produced a small card shaped object.

"Yep. Five free days at the downtown ice rink all to yourself." Ruby nodded. If there was one thing Neo liked to do most, it was ice skate. 'Thanks Ruby!"

The girl nodded and sunk back into her seat, a feeling of accomplishment washing over her. She turned to Cinder, "You go."

"If you insist." She grabbed a thick rectangular shaped box off of the coffee table, and handed it to Yang. "For you, Blondie."

"This isn't like last year is it? I'm still having occasional nightmares." Yang shot Cinder an uncomfortable glance.

"No! Just open it."

Yang shrugged, slowly and precariously, she tore the crimson paper off. With the last shred gone she eyed the object in her hands, it was a book roughly the shape and thickness of a phonebook.

Wait...

It was a phonebook!

"Seriously? A phonebook? I don't get it."

Cinder grinned, "Turn it over." The blonde followed her direction and flipped the book over. On the other side a piece of lined paper had been taped to the front, and in very elegant handwriting was written;

_'One thousand and one stupid puns, oh my God can you please stop. -Cinder.' _

"Really? If this is your way of getting me to stop, then try again because-"

"Open it." Cinder pointed. Yang gave her a wary stare before peeling the book open. Her eyes went wide as the inside of the book had been carved out. In the rectangular hole inside was a gift card.

"A free weekend at a spa?" Yang blanched. "What am I, your Mom?" She said, completely confused.

"Ergh, look, read the back." Cinder glared, a little agitated. Yang turned the card over and read the small print in the bottom left corner. It simply stated what the place does. Manicures, pedicures, massages...

Yang face went red when she read over the last 'service' they offered. "Couples, nu- okay! I know where we're going this weekend Neo." She slammed the card down in the table.

"I took Ruby there a month ago, they really know how to-"

"Cinder!" Ruby seethed.

The amber-eyed woman grinned, instead of saying it she just shot Yang and Neo a wink instead. Making both of them, and even Ruby blush.

"So is that like, for the both of us?" Neo asked.

"Sure."

Neo nodded in content. The gift was definitely... thoughtful. "I'll go now." Neo remarked. The blush slowly disappearing from her face. She started off by handing Ruby a thin, rectangular shaped box roughly the size of a DVD case. The crimsonette smiled and eyed the pink wrappings around the box.

Not wasting a second, she voraciously tore into the box, shreds of paper flying every which way.

"Gah! No way!" She squealed. From the shreds she produced a brand new Wacom pen and tablet from their elegance series. "How'd you get this? It must've costed a fortune!"

"Nope, the guy gave me a deal. Oh-" She turned to Yang "If a guy named Jarred from Best Buy calls; tell him I don't live here anymore."

"What?" Yang gawked, completely befuddled.

"Nevermind."

Ruby didn't even pay the two no mind. Wacom made the perfect tools for digital art. "Thank you, thank you, thank you." She gushed, running up and giving Neo a hug.

"It's cool. Now last but not least; here Cin." She pulled a gift bag rather than a box, out from under the tree. The bag was tall and skinny with bright red and green stripes. Cinder pulled the tissue paper out from it and produced her prize, gawking at what was now in front of her.

"Autumn Chardonnay... the best white wine in Vale, and, my personal favorite..." Her tone had dropped to total awe. From what her expertise told her; this stuff _was not _a cheap knockoff. It was for real.

"Neo, how much did you pay for this?"

"Does that really matter?" Her ton suggested it was better to leave that topic alone for now. She knew Cinder appreciated the finer things in life, so what would be better than her favorite bottle of wine?

Cinder set the bottle down. "Yang it's your turn now."

"Alright!" The blonde whooped. She reached under the tree and grabbed four identical envelopes, handing them out to the three, and keeping one for herself. "So, this isn't exactly a gift for just you two, but it's actually a gift for all of us."

"Yang we've been over this. No foursomes." Neo scolded.

"No! It's something almost as good as that." Yang said slyly.

"Yay..." Cinder blanched.

"Just open them already."

The three of them did, each producing identical blank cards that all said the same thing. They opened their cards in unison, the blonde waiting for the impending reactions.

"Oh my God..."

"Yang, is this... for real?"

"What the..."

"What do you guys see?" Yang asked, her voice teaming with innocence.

"Plane tickets." Cinder said, waving her ticket around.

"And what's the destination?" Yang was sitting on the edge of her seat, eyeing them intently.

"It says..."

"Vegas."

**That's right. Vacation time. Lol, writing the gift part of this was super fun. Thanks for reading! I think I'm going to update this on Saturdays from here on out. **


	5. Nightlife

_**A/N **_**So I've received enough messages asking for smut to bring the idea forward. Would ya'll be okay with it? Let me know. It'd either be a snippet, or the majority of a chapter, but not too often. NOT turning this into a smut fic. It would also follow the silly/un-serious theme of this fic lol**

**So let's just see how these four piece their first night back together in this hangover-ish chapter. Also, 100 follows! Damn, I'm so not worthy of such love, thanks guys!**

Nightlife

Having only been awake for a few minutes now, Yang's morning was going about normally. She felt a little worse for wear, but that could probably be just put off as regular morning tiredness. Another thing on that list was how _soft _the bed was. Like laying on a cloud. Overall she payed those things no mind and was getting ready to go about her favorite part of dawn. Any second now she'd turn over and come face to face with her beautiful Neo, and thus would commence the early morning, bed shenanigans.

Deciding to be ambitious and instigate said shenanigans, Yang lazily reached her arm directly over to where Neo _should _be sleeping. Her hand came in contact with what she assumed was Neo's shoulder, but something made her think otherwise. Normally her arm would find the multi-colored girl'shoulder at a low angle because she was so much smaller. But the fact the her arm had to reach _up _was what threw her off.

Had Neo finally hit a growth spurt after all these years?

Probably not, it's statistically unlikely.

Brushing that red flag off as well; Yang, eyes half lidded and too tired to open, gave _Neo's _shoulder a good tug which raised another red flag.

Since when was Neo so heavy?

Now somewhat concerned, Yang tugged on the shoulder and forced _Neo _to roll over so she could face her. With the blind action now finally made, Yang pried her lilac eyes open to look at her sleeping beauty.

Beauty it was, but not hers.

As her vision came into focus, a few more questions were raised, such as: when did Neo dye her hair black? Or, when did she get a tan?

Wait a minute...

Yang's dazed mind finally put the pieces together.

"Neo-oh God! Cinder!?" The blonde screamed, she yanked the sheets back, Cinder snapped awake with a snort before falling out of bed.

"Whoa!" Cinder shouted. First thing she saw was a disheveled Yang dressed in a white tank top and shorts staring her down.

"Cinder what the hell!? What're you doing in my bed!?" Yang continued to yell whilst pointing at Cinder, thanking the heavens she was dressed.

Sort of.

'Dressed' was probably the wrong word to use. The only fabric covering her body was some lingerie and one of Ruby's shirts that was a few sizes too small.

"I could ask you the same thing!" The woman fired back. "Damn, you almost gave me a heart attack!"

"Oh God what happened last night..." The blonde asked. Her eyes disengaged from Cinder and down to the floor. She asked that question several times in her head, all while running her hand through her wild locks.

Yang glanced around the room and the realization came that this wasn't her apartment, rather it was a modest-looking hotel suite. Beyond that her mind drew a blank, like a gap in time between the flight here, and now.

"Don't look at me, I don't remember anything." Cinder responded to the menacing look Yang was giving her. The ebony-haired woman scratched her head. Also unable to put together what'd happened last night. Her head was somewhat pounding from the sudden wakeup, and she felt like passing out again. Cinder looked over Yang's shoulder and gazed upon a second bed in the suite. The confusion hit her quickly when she noticed the bed was untouched and still made. "That concerns me."

"What are you-" Yang turned around to see what Cinder was blindly staring at, she jumped a little noting the extra bed. "Wait did we...?" The blonde popped the question.

"Questionable..." Cinder spoke, a little venom in her words. "If it's any consolation; you're... not my type."

"O-kay, that leads me to question two; why can't we remember anything?"

"I'll repeat myself once. I. Don't. Know." Cinder turned her head and went to close the rooms curtains. The light intensity was already giving her a migraine.

That's when Yang noticed something... different, "Uhh, Cinder?"

"Can I help you?" Cinder blinked a couple of times, adjusting her vision.

"What's that, on your... stomach?" Yang squinted, eyes going wider, "Is that a piercing?"

The woman raised an eyebrow, "Ha-ha. You're _so _clever... how gullible do you think I am?"

Yang's disposition didn't change, "No I'm serious. Look."

Cinder sighed and tugged back at the hem of her 'borrowed' shirt, gasping a little at the pair of black diamonds lodged in her once unobstructed navel.

"So there is..."

Yang watched as Cinder fiddled with her new found discovery. "You're not wondering; 'Hey where did that come from?' Not at all? Really?!"

Cinder gazed upwards, "I'd rather be sleeping."

"Ugh, no. C'mon we've gotta find Neo and... Ruby." The blonde stepped over to the door. Cinder simply shrugged and decided to follow, the woman was obviously taking this a lot lighter than the edgy blonde.

Yang clicked the door open and peeked out into the hallway first. Other suite doors ran the length of the dimly lit hallway with the elevator down the far side, and a vending/ice machine combo a few feet away. She took in the hallway and something pinged at her memory. The blonde vaguely remembered Cinder adamantly requesting two separate rooms for the couples. What started out as a request had almost turned into a violent demand when the desk clerk took too long to find the rooms in the system.

Now however, Yang couldn't remember the suite number so she choose to play the guessing game instead. Unless...

"Cinder, we booked two rooms right?" The blonde called back.

"We did."

"You remember what the other room number was?"

"No." Cinder spat.

Yang sighed, "Guessing game it is..."

She glanced up and down both sides of the hall, her lilac eyes fixated on the door directly across from their own. Peculiarly enough it was slightly ajar, maybe an inch or so. "Think she's in there?"

"Worth a try." Cinder nodded and stepped forward, trying to get by Yang in the narrow door frame. The blonde smirked, raising an eyebrow, "Nice underwear." She said to Cinder's lack of pants.

"Thanks, I try." She snarled. "Now move. This room obviously is yours and Neo's. My stuff isn't here."

"Alright miss bossy pants- oh wait..." Yang snarled back, glad she got the last word in.

Cinder brushed past Yang and tip-toed across the hallway, the infuriating blonde did the same. With caution, Cinder placed her hand on the door and gave it a gentle push. Thanking the fact it didn't creak nor squeak.

The accompanying suite was laid out exactly the same but in reverse, with the beds on the opposite wall and the furniture on the other. Letting her saffron eyes adjust to the brightness of the room, the ebony-haired woman took the initiative and approached a lump resting under the sheets of the closest bed. She tentatively stuck her hand forward and hovered it over the form. Cinder clamped her eyes shut and tore the sheets back much like Yang had earlier that morning.

When Cinder opened her eyes again, she wasn't face to face with some random patron -but rather the cutest thing she's ever seen.

"Ruby." She whispered. There was her Rose all bunched up on the mattress, sleeping soundly. She looked the least unscathed by whatever transpired the night before. Wearing her white short-shorts and tank top to bed. She smiled down at her and wanted nothing more than to join her in blissful sleep.

"Oh thank God..." Yang sighed in relief. "So now we just need to... what're you doing?" She watched as Cinder paced around the bed and slowly started to join Ruby.

"Going back to sleep..." she yawned. "Thanks for the help." Cinder reached for the sheets and pulled them back over Ruby and herself.

"Oh-ho no. You're helping me-" she grabbed the sheets and did much as she did earlier. "Find Neo!" Her tone raised an octave, it was just loud enough to break Ruby from her slumber. "Honestly?!" Cinder groaned.

"Uugghh, what's going on...?" Ruby's voice sounded out, scratchy and tired.

"Finding Neo that's what. Get up Rubes." Yang's mood was becoming more annoyed by the second.

"Mmmhhh, five more minutes..." The girl rolled over and clung to Cinder, attempting to be the big spoon.

It was imperative to Yang that Neo was nowhere to be seen in the room. She sighed for the umpteenth time that morning;_ 'If you want something done right; do it yourself.'_

Mind made up, Yang stormed past the lazy couple and back towards the door. However that wasn't before she noticed... something else. Just as she turned and stepped out the door; a dark spot caught her eye. She swiveled the upper half of her body around to get a closer glimpse.

"Pfft, oh my God. No, way." She'd begun to cackle. Ruby's position on the bed left her back to the blonde, and where the hem of her top had rustled upwards, displayed a rather intricate -tribal-looking piece of body ink.

Or in layman's terms; a tramp stamp.

Yang didn't know whether she should be scared, proud, or downright amused by it. First Cinder's piercing and now this made what last night was, slightly horrific.

Yang tried to keep her laughter to a low volume, but failed as Cinder stuck her tired head up out of bed. "Yang... go away."

The blonde continued to laugh, "Not until you, pfft, see Rubes' new tattoo."

Cinder went wide eyed, what with her own... discovery this morning, there was less of a chance that Yang was lying, "Red," she jostled the crimsonette, "love, wake up."

"Mmmrrghh, fine..." Ruby reluctantly let go of Cinder and rolled up out of bed. She scratched her disheveled hair and eyed Cinder with sleepy inquiry. "What's happening again?"

Cinder quickly thought of a plan to get Ruby to realize what was still unknown to her. "Go to the bathroom and... shut the door. I have a surprise for you~."

Ruby immediately became intrigued by Cinder's silky smooth voice, "O-Okay?" She said and stood up. The youngest of the three sidestepped into the luxurious bathroom, shut the door, and-

_"Eeep! W-What is that?!" _

Cinder and Yang both connected glances, knowing Ruby saw it in the large bathroom mirror. Before they had time to speak, Ruby came storming back out pointing her finger directly at Cinder. "W-Was my surprise a tattoo?!" She was tugging on the back of her top to keep her new 'addition' covered from view.

"Let me see it." Cinder asked.

"N-No!"

"Please~?"

"Not now!" Ruby shrieked. "What did we do last night, and w-why can't I remember anything?!" The girl stepped back from Cinder and had begun to panic. "Wait, where's Neo?"

"That's what we're trying to figure out, now let's go." Yang impatiently stated.

Cinder merely shrugged, "Don't worry Ruby-" she pointed to her exposed abdomen, "You're not the only one who got marked last night."

"Wha- oh..." Ruby eyed Cinder's piercing, _'God that's hot.' _She thought. "Uhh..." The words that left her mouth differed from her thoughts wildly.

"C'mon, Cinder put some pants on and let's go. Neo could be anywhere." Yang didn't give them a chance to follow and simply hurried out the door.

_**######**_

Dressed properly, and looking half-decent, Ruby and Cinder eventually found Yang waiting for them down in the hotel's front drop-off by the front doors. Behind her several vacationers gave her odd looks as they left various taxis and SUV's.

"Yang! Why are we standing out in the heat? There's perfectly nice cool hotel like, two feet away." Ruby whined.

"Funny story, the manager actually just kicked us out. He's arranged for our stuff to be brought down and paid for a taxi out of here. Geez he was pissed." Yang explained.

"What?! Why? We didn't do anything wrong. Did we?" Cinder inquired.

"According to him we did."

"Yeah... why?" Ruby questioned, guessing the answer internally.

"Well from the footage he showed me; one it was just the three of us, two; we were totally smashed, and three; you know that nice Maserati they had on display inside the motel?_ Someone_... tried to drive it... you know... through the hotel." The blonde directed the end of her sentence towards Cinder.

"I remember now... I tried to start it, and the both of you were laughing like idiots." Cinder nodded like nothing was wrong at all.

"Wait, usually when something stupid happens I record it for... certain purposes . Everyone take out your phones, might be something on... them..." As Yang had spike she patted herself down, looking for her phone and only to find empty pickets with nothing but lint in them. She looked to Cinder and Ruby who faced a similar situation.

"Great, now our phones are missing." Cinder griped. "Mine was brand new too."

Ruby looked to Yang, "Well did the manager say anything else?"

"No, not really. But Cinder trying to steal a car makes me think that we didn't have one in the first place, right? So that means wherever you two got your... things, can't be far, right? Bam! Logic." Yang grinned triumphantly.

"It's the only lead we have..." Cinder muttered.

"Well then it's settled, we'll look for tattoo and piercing parlors nearby. Maybe Neo was with us then." Ruby laid out the plan and both Cinder and Yang agreed.

"I just wanna find Neo, hope she's okay." Yang sighed sadly.

"Don't worry, I'm sure she's doing much better than we are." Ruby reassured.

_**######**_

"Nah, it was just the three of you. Came in here all loud and whatnot. Sounds to me like ya'll were having a good night." A gruff voice spoke. After three hours of searching for the right parlor (Vegas, ironically enough, had one on nearly every corner.) The scatterbrained trio found themselves in one parlor roughly a thirty minute walk from the hotel. Just a small brick building resting on a corner of a side street. As soon as they had entered, Cinder began questioning the tattoo artist with everything she could think of.

"Did we say anything about what we were doing? Or...?" Cinder prodded on.

"Nope- actually I did remember one of you saying something about a contest, and a place called 'The Canteen' Whatever that is." The leather-clad man explained.

"Contest?" Yang said incredulously.

"Wait wait wait wait... wait. The Canteen... sounds familiar." Ruby pondered. The girl took a moment to try and process said name. "I think-"

"Hey," The artist asked, "How're you enjoying that ink? Keeping it away from water I hope."

Cinder cut in, unable to resist, "I like it~" she purred.

"W-What're y-you going on about?" Ruby faced that woman. "You haven't even see- ahh~" Within a second Cinder had stepped forward and snaked her hand up the back of Ruby's shirt, eliciting a gasp from the girl.

"Alright, enough lovebirds." Yang said with a melancholic tone. "Cinder please direct Rubes' mind to finding Neo, _not _the gutter."

Cinder withdrew her hand and placed it under Ruby's chin. "Red, the faster we help Yang find Neo, the faster you and I can-"

"The bar at the hotel!" She blurted out, like her mind was already one step ahead of Cinder's.

"You sure?" The blonde second guessed.

"Yeah yeah! I remember Cin pointing that out when we walked in."

"Great," Cinder heaved a sigh, "Now there's one question left; how do we get back in?"

Yang turned and walked over to the door of the tattoo parlor, "Leave that to me."

Cinder wasn't sure how to react to Yang's answer but went along anyway. She placed her arm around Ruby's shoulder and ushered the girl out of the shop. The crimsonette looked up at Cinder with wondrous silver eyes, "So... what were we going to do? You said something but I cut you off. Heh... sorry."

"It's fine Jewel. I'll tell you later." The woman replied with a wink. A menacing, torturous wink that scared, and excited Ruby.

_**######**_

Thanks to a combination of Yang's ingenuity, Cinder's _very _expressive wording, and Ruby's determination, the girls were able to sneak, bribe, and force their way back into the hotel. They made a mission-focused pace past the lobby, through the casino, and to the lounge area of the hotel. There was a few bars and attractions scattered around, but the green neon sign that beckoned the words: "The Canteen" was what attracted them the most.

It was already into the latter part of the day, and the pace of patrons coming and going for drinks had sped up. But nonetheless, the three barged into the place and immediately took their spots at the bar. However as they walked in, nearly everyone gave them smiles, thumbs up, and even the odd cat-call.

Once the bartender finished giving another customer their drink, he turned around and addressed the three disgruntled girls, he was a hip-looking man with slightly parting hair and modern glasses. Oddly enough, his face lit up and gave all of them a warm smile.

"Eyy! If it isn't my three best customers!" He cheered, "What brings ya' back?"

"So we were here last night." Yang said.

"Of course you were, but where's the little one? Pink and brown hair?" He asked, tone comparable to a cheery salesman.

"That's what we're- wait-" Cinder remembered the word 'contest' from before, "Does the word contest ring any bells?"

"Hell yeah! Best one we've had in decades. Oh geez, I'm getting ahead of myself." He reached for something under the bar-top. The man retrieved a small slip of paper and handed it to Ruby. "Your friend told me to give this to you."

"Huh?" Ruby hesitantly took the note. She unfolded it's many folds and read aloud;

_'Dead friends, and girlfriend, of mine: if you're reading this than that means you're at the bar. If you'd like to know what __**really **__happened last night; come to the roof. I'll be waiting for your apologies there.' _

_-N_

"Apologies? For what?!" Cinder shouted. "Getting pierced, tattoo'd, and booted out of the hotel?"

"Whatever, look, C'mon we gotta go! She's up there waiting for us." Yang squealed with excitement, glad they finally got Neo's location.

"Fine, but after this, we go our separate ways." The ebony-haired woman delegated.

"Sure, sure, let's go!"

_**######**_

"Pretty sure we're not supposed to be up here."

"Well of the hotel bothers us they'll have to deal with me." Yang aggressively replied to her sisters complaint. It was gravely obvious now that Yang is quite protective when it comes to Neo. Maybe on the obsessive side... but what does it matter? They're in love.

The trio found themselves atop the luxury hotel among the various air-conditioning units, vents, and the setting sun as their backdrop. All the bright lights of Vegas coming to life was definitely a sight to see.

_"Looking for me?"_

All the girls heads perked up in relief of a familiar voice. "Neo?!" Yang suddenly dashed across the dusty concrete roof and over to a raised landing next to a larger air vent. Cinder and Ruby followed the blondes hasty moves and eventually joined her at the same spot.

"Oh my God! Neo! Where've you been? We were worried." Yang belted out a large amount of questions.

The multi-colored girl had set up a nice spot to relax at. Somehow, she manged to get a poolside lounger on the roof, as well as an umbrella. Accompanying this was a small table which had an empty glass resting on top.

Neo lied there, clad in a pink swimsuit and sunglasses. Upon hearing Yang's cry for her, she sat up and addressed the three of them.

"Pfft." She snorted. Her pink eyes took in a hilarious, and memorable sight. From Yang's sweat-soaked clothes, to Cinder's wild hair, and the apparent sunburn of Ruby's skin; these three looked like that had been through well... a day in Vegas.

"What happened to you three?" She asked while trying to stifle a laugh.

"We're fine, but where were you? We looked and looked and-"

"Yang." She cut the blonde off, "Cinder, Ruby. You three owe me an apology."

"For what?" The three said in rhythm.

"Well, if you're wondering why the bartender was so nice to you, lemme give you a recap of things." Neo stood up an addressed them with an angered look on her face, her shortness made the gesture a tad bit ineffective, but it got the message across.

"From the moment we got on the plane, you guys endlessly teased me about how 'I'm too short for the seats' or 'Neo we should've just put you in a suitcase to save money'. And then when we landed, you guys continued -even you, Yang. Pointed fingers, called me short, and- gah! I got sick and tired of it." Her voice was fully raised, and she wasn't joking around.

"So we went to the bar, and I lied and told you guys I can hold my alcohol better than you three, knowing it would explode into some crazy competition. I paid one of the bartenders to record the whoooole thing and told the barkeep to hit you guys with the strongest crap they had, and boy oh boy, you three make for great blackmail material when you're all too drunk to stand up straight."

"W-What?" Yang sputtered.

"I'm tired of the short jokes guys. They're getting old." Neo sighed.

"So you got us ridiculously drunk and filmed the whole thing?" Cinder pulled the facts together.

"Then left?" Ruby added.

"Yep."

"Oh geez... were we really THAT mean to you." Yang asked sincerely.

"Yeah you were. The whole 'suitcase' thing was probably the worst. But even when I said stop, ya'll didn't listen." Neo sighed and sat back down.

"Oh Neo, I'm sorry." Yang spoke first. She bent down to give Neo a hug.

"Y-Yeah me too."

"Ditto."

"O-Oh no, don't be sorry, I... heh, should be sorry." She reached over to her mini side table and brought up a small digital camera. "I learned some... interesting things with this."

"I'm sure I'll regret asking, but what?" Cinder facepalmed.

Neo's grin went wide, "Well for starters you're not a bad singer Cin, you started singing randomly and then fell out of your chair laughing like an idiot."

Cinder blushed. "Psh, whatever..."

"Ruby you got really angry and almost started a bar-fight." She then looked to her blonde girlfriend, "Things took a really odd turn when you tried to grind on Cinder, Yang."

Both of them froze, remembering the bed situation from that morning. Their faces immediately flushed red and their gazes shifted to the ground.

"Ruby you disappeared after that, and the rest is history." Neo finished.

Yang perked up at a small realization, "I guess I was the unscathed one then huh?"

The multi-colored girl raised an eyebrow, "Hmm? Something I should know about?"

"Cinder's got a piercing and Rubes got a tattoo." The blonde stated with a smirk.

"That's it? No Chinese mafia looking for you? Or drive-thru weddings? I kinda expected a better story than that." Neo droned.

"Think I remember seeing a movie about this once... can't remember the name..." Ruby thought openly.

"Whatever." Cinder groaned. "Please tell me we're not staying here. I'd rather be back at the apartment."

"One more day?" Yang asked.

"Are you serious? After what we just did?" Cinder couldn't believe Yang even thought of staying. Than again it was Yang, so...

"Sooo... now what?" Ruby questioned.

"I'm going to bed, had enough for one day." Cinder spoke her thoughts and sauntered off. Ruby simply shrugged and decided to follow, wanting to know what Cinder's plans were.

Yang turned around and gazed out to the city skyline, lit up brightly.

"Hey Neo?"

"Hm?"

"You're gonna send me a copy of that blackmail vid, right?"

"Oh yeah."

"And we're gonna use it, right?"

"Definitely. I have this idea to remix Cinder's singing and post it online."

"Cool."

"And Yang?"

"Yes?"

"You're not off the hook either."

"Aww man..."

_**A/N **_**And it's back. Sorry for getting this out so late everyone. Let me know if your for or against the whole smutty additions to this fic. Thanks again for your amazingness!**


	6. How We Meet Pt 1

_**A/N**_** Hey, guys. It's been a rough week, so about something a little uplifting? A mini prequel as to how Cinder and Ruby got together. I'll be doing the same thing for Yang and Neo next chapter, then... things might get a little more... immature. I'm sure you all know what I mean. *wink wink, nudge, nudge***

**Thanks for being so cool everyone, Enjoy!**

How We Meet Pt. 1

"Is that better Ruby?"

"Owh, yeah a little."

Cinder withdrew her hands from Ruby's bare shoulders. "We're agreed on never going back, yes?"

"Never... _again._"

The place both Ruby and Cinder had sworn on never returning to, was Vegas. One way or another, Yang had convinced Neo to stay longer. Ruby and Cinder on the other-hand, elected to leave as soon as possible. Not wanting to spend another day in that crazy city.

Leaving Neo and Yang back in Vegas, the two of them returned home the next night. They utilized the following day to catch up on any missed sleep, and recuperate from such a terrible and, idiotic idea.

Which leads to the current stipulation. Ruby had groaned and whined about her sunburn all day, so Cinder decided to quell the girls pain with diligent hands, and some rather expensive skin moisturizer. It was late at night, the two residing in the bedroom. Cinder, dressed in an elegant crimson nightgown, was sitting up in bed with a bare-backed Ruby splayed in her lap.

"Should've known..." Ruby blanched.

"What's that?"

"That the words 'Yang' and 'Vegas' in the same sentence are a big red-flag on what not to do."

"The mindset we had..." Cinder nodded. The woman was doing the final kneads with her hands, making sure the moisturizer hit every bit of red on Ruby's back and shoulders.

Finished her work on Ruby's sunburnt back, Cinder looked contentedly at Ruby's back "You know what the great thing about this moisturizer is?"

"It's... good for your skin?" That girl responded, puzzled as to why Cinder asked that.

"No, no. It means you're not allowed to put your shirt back on until it dries, jewel." Her smirk turned to a mischievous leer, and she began gracing her fingertips down Ruby's back. The small girl immediately shuddering under Cinder's touch.

"Mmh~" Ruby gasped as Cinder's fingernails reached her lower back, right above her 'souvenir' from Vegas.

It became clear to Ruby that Cinder wanted to do more than just rub her back. Oddly enough, this was one of those times when Ruby didn't want casual relaxation to dissolve into copious sex. Just as Cinder's hand reached the waist of Ruby's pants; the girl made a steadfast move.

Ruby cocked her head up from Cinder's lap, giving the woman an apologetic look. She pulled herself up and took to her own side of the bed. "S-Sorry." She muttered.

"No need. This just leaves the option of cuddling wide, open." Cinder purred. She began running her gentle fingers through Ruby's hair.

Ruby muzzled into Cinder's touch, contorting her body so he could see those beautiful amber eyes of hers. "Yeah." The crimsonette whispered cutely.

Cinder took Ruby's nuzzling as a gesture for her to get closer. She wiggled from her sitting position into a position that encompassed the smaller girl. Their bodies fitting together like two puzzle pieces.

The heat in Ruby's red shoulders was immediately replaced with a softer warmth from Cinder's body. It almost felt healing to lay next to her. She felt even more at ease as Cinder gently stroked her hair.

"So..." Cinder broke the silence. "Feel better?"

"Yep, this is... nice." Ruby had to hold back from squealing in delight. Lost in the amazing feeling of Cinder next to her, taking care of her, feeling compassion and love for her. Knowing It was undoubtedly reciprocated.

"Wanna lay here a while?" Ruby proposed in the same cute voice, knowing Cinder couldn't resist.

"Sure, love." Cinder got up out of bed and turned the light out. In one smooth move she glided back into bed with Ruby and resumed the same embrace from before, only this time she rested her hands on Ruby's stomach -holding her closely.

The two of them lied next to one another for an hour. The time being shortly after midnight. There was complete silence between them. That silence wasn't a bad thing; it was the the extreme contention of being together that said more than any words could.

Shortly after that, Cinder had fallen into blissful sleep. A wide awake Ruby in her arms.

Feeling Cinder's gentle breaths on the back of her neck, Ruby's mind wandered to her relationship with the woman. More specifically, what had got her to this moment. Being wrapped in an embrace that could only be described as pure compassion.

What had got her dating the most amazing person she's ever had the privilege of meeting.

How it all began...

_**######**_

_16 Months Prior..._

"T-This is all your fault!" Ruby shouted to her sister. "I-If you didn't insist on taking me there, n-n-none of this would've happened!"

Yang watched the t-shirt and jean-clad girl pace back and forth in front of her. "Just admit it, you like her sis." The blonde teased. "But I don't see why you're making such a fuss, she's pretty. Just ask her out already."

Ruby ceased her pacing and pointed a finger at her irritable sister, "I-It's not that simple. I mean, whenever I'm near her I get all nervous and then she does that smile and I just can't- it's not- ugh. What am I gonna do..." Ruby trailed off and flunked down on Yang's couch. They were in the blondes apartment she had purchased with her girlfriend Neo, the multi-colored girl was out doing errands, so it was just the sisters.

Yang wasn't quite sure how to handle this. It was funny and a little alarming at the same time. A few months back -weeks after Ruby turned eighteen- Yang had convinced her to come along on one of her regular outings to a downtown club. Seeing as there was nothing better to do, Ruby tagged along.

The night had been going pretty well. When Yang had gotten deep into a conversation with some strangers, Ruby decided to mosey on over to the bar and order a soda (Alcohol just wasn't her thing). When she had put in her request for the drink, all she got was a hearty laugh. At first, Ruby felt angered that the bartender was laughing, but her outlook changed when she glanced up from the counter and saw exactly _who _was laughing.

The most beautiful woman she'd ever seen.

It spiraled from that moment. Ruby quickly learned the woman's name was Cinder. She's got three years on the crimsonette, and is heralded for her adept bartending skills.

After that, Ruby was the one who insisted on going back to said bar -just to see Cinder. It was pretty obvious to both of them that there was some chemistry there, as their relationship grew to close friendship.

But Ruby longed for more.

She wanted to date Cinder so badly. Everything about the woman appealed to her tastes. From her mysterious persona, her appearance, and the way she walks, talks, and even chews is downright awesome.

All of it Ruby liked, and wanted to see more of.

But she had no clue how to go about doing it. Her biggest problem was getting over Cinder's sly personality, not to mention her appearance. All distractions needed to go away in order for Ruby to form words. But that just wasn't possible, and every attempt dissolved into Ruby tripping over words or running away.

Today might be different however. Today might be the day she'd _finally _ask the evocative woman on a date. Cinder had invited Ruby over to her apartment for the first time. Alone.

And Ruby was freaking out at the fact that it was going to be just the two of them.

"Just relax Rubes. You'll be fine, I'm sure she... likes you too." Yang tried to console the crimsonette.

"Nice advice." Ruby snarked. She checked the time on her phone, "Oh no... I have to go now. Wait! Maybe you could-"

"Bye Ruby."

"Dammit."

Ruby gave her sister a meek goodbye before leaving Yang's apartment and setting out for Cinder's. The ebony-haired woman's place resting a substantial distance away from Yang's. The blonde couldn't give her a ride, so Ruby opted to take the city bus instead.

A fifteen minute ride later, Ruby hopped off the bus at a stop resting in front of a downtown condominium complex. The building rose four story's, made mostly of coral-colored bricks and white accented window frames. The girl took a deep breath and stepped forward. She traced the path up to the front doors and stepped inside. Once inside she dug out a small slip of paper from her pocket; the number '12' written on the front and back of it.

"Number twelve... okay... you can do this Rose. You can do this."

A million thoughts raced through her mind;

_'What if she thinks I'm weird?'_

_'What if she says no?'_

_'Oh no! What if our-'_

"Do what?" A sultry voice called from behind her.

"Gah! C-Cinder? You scared me!" Ruby frantically jumped back. Lo and behold, Cinder was coming up from the hallway leading deeper into the complex. The woman was clothed in black skinny jeans, a crimson v-neck, and a brown leather jacket. In her left hand rested her car keys and in her right was the handle of a miniature suitcase that she pulled along behind her. Ruby raised an eyebrow as to why that was there.

"I'm sorry Ruby."

"D-Don't be. I tend to overreact sometimes." Ruby explained.

"No really, I am." Cinder looked down at Ruby, sadly so, "I'm going to have to cancel our little meaning today."

"W-What? I thought..." The redhead trailed off.

"Some family issues came up and... I have to leave town for a few days." Cinder couldn't bear to see the deep disappointment in Ruby's adorable silver eyes. "Really, I'm sorry."

"N-No, it's uh, okay. I guess... family comes first..." Ruby's head dipped and she turned around to leave, "I guess I'll see you when I-"

"Red, wait." Cinder placed her hand on Ruby's shoulder, turning the girl back around. "I know I shouldn't be asking a favor from you, but could you watch my place for me while I'm gone? Please?" Cinder questioned. "I have a special surprise, for you when I get back~" She finished her request with a purr.

Ruby's expression suddenly shot back up, "Really?! Sure, sure, yeah! I'll do it." She jumped at the chance. It was reading week for college students next week so her schedule was already clear.

"Thanks." Cinder tossed Ruby the keys. "I'll be back Tuesday night, feel free to do whatever."

"Have a safe trip!" Ruby excitedly waved to Cinder as she left. The woman simply waved back before turning out through front door and out of Ruby's sight.

With Cinder gone, Ruby grinned at the keys in her palm. One for the studio apartment, and the other for the mailbox. Without further thought, she dashed down the hall towards Cinder's place. Her mind was split between excitement and disappointment. It sucked that she'd have to wait a week, but that 'surprise' Cinder had mentioned at the end there made Ruby's mind race with various ideas on what it could be -some normal, others... not so much.

The door to Cinder's place, was just around the first corner on the first floor. Upon seeing number '12', Ruby giddily slotted the key into it's socket and practically shoved the door open.

Her eyes surveyed over a modest sized apartment mostly arranged in a two-room layout. The living-room and kitchen joined together to make the main area, while a small hallway in the far back led to the bedroom and single bathroom. For the most part, the place was rather normal looking. Basic furniture laid throughout with the odd custom exception here and there.

At first glance it didn't look like Cinder had added her own touch, but that's just on the surface.

_'Don't get ahead of yourself Rose.'_

Ruby shut out the idea of going through Cinder's stuff -enticing as it was. She simply kept eyeing the place up, down, left, right. Like bringing a puppy home for the first time; Ruby was unable to figure out what to do first. Excited by the fact that she was in her crush's place! For, four days!

Just as she was about to text Yang and let her know what was going on, her stomach grumbled. The cue of hunger basically gave her an excuse to go through the woman's stuff, or what she eats at least.

_'Am I being creepy?' _Ruby gave it some thought...

_'Nah,'_

She took to the kitchen and went for the fridge first. Opening it, Ruby's eyes came in contact with a few take-out containers, various bottles of chardonnay, and a random mix of fruits. She grabbed one of the containers by random, shut the door and went for a random drawer in search of a fork.

Utensils out of the way, she made her way over to the small dining table by the porch door. Settling down to eat.

Ruby cracked the Styrofoam container open. Nothing out of the ordinary. Just a varied mix of rice and vegetables laced in some orange-colored sauce.

The girl dug in, taking a fork full of rice and getting a taste of what Cinder's eats. Immediately a spicy burning sensation hit her taste buds. It quickly went from tolerable, to 'Holy crap someone get me some water' the more she chewed.

"Aggggg." Ruby hissed, fanning her mouth and running over to the sink. She cranked the cold water and washed the insane heat out of her mouth with a few sputtered gulps.

"Pfft, okay... she likes spicy food... bleh." The girl coughed.

Deciding that ordering her own takeout was probably a better idea, Ruby phoned in an order to a local pizzeria and chose to watch Cinder's large TV until it came.

_**######**_

"Always hated that movie..."

After eating her pizza, Ruby spent the remainder of the day watching various movies thanks to Cinder's Netflix subscription. Based off of the movies the service recommended; Cinder had an interest in those rare movies where the bad guy always wins. Among those recommendations were also a number of cooking shows.

Seeing as it was now dark outside, Ruby checked her phone.

"Whoa!" She shouted, realizing it was almost three in the morning. "How many movies did I watch...?"

She looked around the dark apartment. "Guess I should go to- oh crap! I didn't bring my stuff." Ruby began to panic. Being so wrapped up in Netflix, she forgot to send Yang a text for her to bring some of her stuff by.

"What am I- wait a minute..."

_'No you're not gonna use Cinder's stuff.'_

_'It's only for three days.'_

_'No.'_

_'Yes.'_

_'Fine.'_

The idea of even touching something that belonged to Cinder made Ruby's heart race with excitement. If this doesn't work out in the end; at least she got to wear some of Cinder's clothes.

_'That's not creepy at all...'_

All thoughts aside, Ruby tip-toed through the dark hallway and into Cinder's bedroom. She flicked on a nearby light switch and immediately went for Cinder's walk in closet. Giving the woman as much privacy as possible, she opened the middle drawer of the first dresser and grabbed the first things she saw, which luckily, was just a cropped tank top and sweat pants.

She quickly changed into the clothes that were a few sizes to large and went back into the living-room. Ruby decided to sleep on the couch -not wanting to invade the woman's bed.

That wasn't before she stole a blanket off of it however.

The small girl curled in the soft leather of the couch and pulled the blanket over herself. She let out a small squeak as Cinder's intoxicating scent from the blanket fully enveloped her body.

With a small yawn and a few bats of her eyes, Ruby slowly but surely drifted off into peaceful sleep, impatiently waiting for Cinder's return.

_**######**_

In the time Ruby's stayed in Cinder's apartment, she's learned more about her than in the months they've known each other. She's learned that Cinder enjoys the finer things in life, but is still a down-to-earth person about it. She's learned that Cinder enjoys cooking, as well as others cooking for her. And last but certainly not least: she's learned that the woman's choice in lingerie was...

Ruby was too embarrassed to say what It was.

All in all, staying here was an amazing time.

It was Monday night. Ruby was passed out on the couch -still in Cinder's pajamas 's. The woman wasn't due to come back until the following day, so she had ample time to get this place cleaned up and ready for when her crush returned.

But fate, in all its ways, had different plans for Ruby. See, what she doesn't know is that Cinder didn't have to stay as long, and was returning a day early.

Coming up the hallway that very moment was none other than Cinder herself. She was tired, but anticipated seeing Ruby. For herself, she came to terms with her feelings about Ruby weeks before, but didn't lead on about it. But when it was painfully obvious that Ruby felt the same way; Cinder had upped the teases, the hip swaying, and everything else to lead Ruby on. She felt bad about it some days, but today?

Everything was going to change.

She reached the door in no time, and dug her spare key from her coat pocket. She unlocked the door and gently pushed it open. It was dark; so the first thing she did was turn on the light in the foyer.

With a click, the room illuminated. Cinder was surprised to see her place almost exactly the same. There was just the odd cup or dish laying around.

The ebony-haired woman kicked off her boots and walked forward. Just as she was about to call out for Ruby, a small snort emanating from the couch told her otherwise.

Cinder quietly paced over to her couch...

And immediately began grinning uncontrollably.

There, nestled into the cushions of the couch, was Ruby. Snug and content.

_'Adorable.' _Was all Cinder could think of.

The girl had the cutest look on her face. On top of that, Cinder noticed Ruby was wearing her clothes. How they loosely hung off her form was so cute -Cinder wanted nothing more than to cuddle up with her.

But there was more pressing matters to attend to.

"Ruby...?" Cinder whispered, she placed her hand on the girl's shoulder.

A soft jostle was enough to break the girl from her slumber. "Yang... go away..." Ruby groaned.

"Red. It's me."

"C-Cinder? Ah! Cinder!" Ruby thrashed awake, "Y-You're back early?"

"Did you not want me to?" Cinder said in mock hurt.

"No! No no no, I I just... uh, didn't want you to know I was..."

"Wearing my clothes? No need to worry. I assume, you just forgot your own?"

"Y-Yeah, silly me."

"Well~ I must say, you're much cuter in my clothes, than your own." Cinder's voice dropped to its torrid normality.

"I uh... don't-" Ruby was silenced by Cinder's finger on her lips.

"Remember that surprise I told you about?"

Ruby nodded.

"Close your eyes, and I'll give it to you."

Ruby clamped her eyes shut as Cinder withdrew her finger.

Cinder grabbed Ruby's chin and pulled her into a deep, lustful and loving kiss. The crimsonette's eyes widened and she gasped allowing Cinder ample time to thrust her tongue deep into her mouth.

Ruby remained still, doing nothing as she was frozen in place by Cinder's bold movement, and was completely at her mercy. Her body relaxed and her eyes slowly shut, moaning into the kiss. Cinder heard and felt Ruby's soft, muffled voice by her mouth and took that as a sign to keep going.

"Cinder…" Ruby moaned, slowly moving her tongue through her secret crush's teeth. Ruby allowed the movement for a moment before fighting back, trying to fight a losing battle for dominance. Ruby ran her fingers through Cinder's hair, grasping at the ends and pulled her closer, decreasing the amount of space between them.

As oxygen ran out, the girls separated, a thin strand of saliva catching the dim light between them.

"How was that?" Cinder asked.

"G-Good."

"I assume you have something else to say?"

Ruby wiped the saliva away and took a deep, firm breath. "W-Would you like to go out sometime? Like a date?"

"I'd love to, my rose."

Ruby squealed in delight at being called Cinder's rose. She wrapped her small arms around Cinder's neck, pulling to woman in closely. Their lips locked again, locked in a new found compassion and love.

It'd be kiss of numerous to come...


End file.
